Making Sense of Cincy

Well, here we are in Cincy. Incy wincy Cincy.

When I see we I obviously mean the men's tour - it is no secret that I find it more interesting than the ladies' tour right now - but let's talk Cincy last week, when the ladies played here. There were some totally interesting results that came out of that tournament that I forgot about in the haze of strawberry milkshakes and chocolate icecream.

Our winner was Kimmie, and it seems to me like she hasn't won anything for a while, so this is a good result for her, especially if she's looking to defend her title at the US Open - which I personally think would be awesome and, if she keeps playing like this, she has a great chance of doing. The final against Sharapova was definitely one of the better women's matches we've seen this year, and I would say that both ladies were in great shape heading towards New York...

...if Shaz hadn't gone and half-broken her foot.

Oh Maria. Will your injuries never cease?

Nonetheless, if the injury isn't too bad and if MaSha can recuperate in time, she has as good a chance as anyone to do well at the US Open, especially considering Serena might be entering on exactly zero matches (and may well still be wearing an orthopaedic boot.) And if Kimmie keeps her level up, I'm not going to gainsay her.

But the real mover and shaker for the ladies last week - in my opinion anyway - was Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. I wouldn't rate her as a shot at winning the Open or anything - I think Nastia has a way to go before she gets there - but she could definitely pull a Wickmayer and go very deep and pull some major upsets. She very nearly overcame MaSha and that is no mean feat. So yeah... keep an eye on that one!

Dreaming Anastasia

Now, here is something I completely forgot to write about last week, what with all the shenanigans of Davis Cup... and also because the women's tour is not so interesting right now. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, a personal favourite of mine, won a tour title - a tour title which I am pretty sure is her first - in Monterrey.

Coming right on the heels of Ernests Gulbis' first tour title, this makes me feel very vindicated. Pavlyuchenkova was an extraordinarily talented junior - I think she won a good half dozen junior Slams - but she came up at the same time as Alize Cornet, who obviously bloomed a little earlier. However, you'd be excused for saying 'who?' about Cornet at the moment - seriously, when is the last time she won a match? whereas Pavlyuchenkova has made some good steady progress.

I'm pretty sure it was Indian Wells last year where she made the semis - either there or Miami, anyway. That was her really big coming out party, the first really epic result she had on tour. However, she's been making good progress for a while now - she's very much a slow and steady wins the race sort of player in that sense.

But I was super glad to see her win this title in Monterrey because she really is incredibly awesome. In my mind, she really will be the next successor to that uber-Russian crown that Sharapova and Dementieva and Safina and Kuznetsova and Zvonareva and all those kids toss around among themselves. She's mentally steadier than more than a few of the players on that list and if she keeps progressing the way she is, she can do pretty much anything. And it's not as if she beat a whole crowd of nobodies in Monterrey - she ran up against Daniela Hantuchova in the final and lost the first set badly before gritting it out in three. That's some toughness right there.

Considering Indian Wells (I think) was her first breakout last year, I'll be interested to see how she backs that up - that can often be a test. But let us just say this - Jodi's picks are starting to come good. Now if only Sabine Lisicki could get her arse into the top ten and Gulbis could keep winning stuff, I could legitimately be a super genius.

Not Good Enough

I think I might hate the WTA. Seriously. This is not good enough. This is nowhere in the vicinity of good enough. This is so far away from good enough that people have forgotten what good enough looks like, and it's become some mythical holy grail that people go in quest of.

Last week, we saw all the top six seeds fall in the first round. We're not quite there yet, but we're not far off. Venus Williams lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - again. I love Pavs, so I'm not complaining, but really, Venus? Really?! What's that?

And then Dinara Safina lost to Zhang Shuai. Not Peng Shuai. Zhang Shuai. I'm sure I'm not the only one going 'huh?' right now.

I wrote about a month ago in defence of Dinara. I'm still not quite ready to give up on her, but I'm certainly not far off either. I'm allowing her the off-season to prove herself, to fix her serve and to come back with determination. I don't want to enter into this whole 'real #1' debate, but she's not showing herself worthy of the ranking at the moment. Problem is, no one's showing themselves worthy of it, and so she's clinging onto it by default at the moment.

But this has got to stop. This WTA nonsense has got to halt right now. I understand the off season is approaching and they're probably all tired. Well, guess what? That's not an excuse. It's simply not good enough. If the top blokes can keep it up, then so can the women. If they're too tired to play, they should do what Ana Ivanovic did and gracefully call it an end to the season so they can go away and regroup. Because this top ten debacle has got to stop.


Today's Results

China Open (Beijing)

Men's Draw

Novak Djokovic def. Victor Hanescu, 6-3 7-5
Marin Cilic def. Igor Andreev, 6-4 6-4
Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-1
Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Nicolas Almagro, 7-5 7-6 (7-3)
Tommy Robredo def. Benjamin Becker, 6-2 6-1
Julien Benneteau def. Marcos Daniel, 6-3 6-4


Women's Draw

Zhang Shuai def. Dinara Safina, 7-5 7-6 (7-5)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Venus Williams, 3-6 6-1 6-4
Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-2 6-1
Li Na def. Lucie Safarova, 4-6 6-0 6-4
Aleksandra Wozniak def. Alize Cornet, 7-6 (7-0) 6-4
Alona Bondarenko def. Sara Errani, 6-3 6-3
Nadia Petrova def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1 5-7 6-2
Daniela Hantuchova def. Carla Suarez Navarro, 7-5 6-2
Francesca Schiavone def. Sabine Lisicki, 6-0 1-0 retired
Alisa Kleybanova def. Yanina Wickmayer, 5-7 6-3 6-3
Vania King def. Galina Voskoboeva, 6-4 6-3


Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships (Tokyo)

Gael Monfils def. Marsel Ilhan, 6-2 6-4
Stanislas Wawrinka def. John Isner, 6-4 6-4
Marco Chiudinelli def. Dudi Sela, 4-6 6-1 6-4
Simon Greul def. Martin Vassallo Arguello, 4-6 6-4 6-2

USA Fairy Tale

I talked yesterday about the lack of consistency on the WTA tour as opposed to the ATP- all top sixteen men are through to the round of thirty two for the first time in history, whereas eleven of the top twenty women have fallen. Generally, you'd take le tour de bloke any day, given as good opponents = good matches and whatnot, but you know what? There is an upside to this whole WTA scattiness.

It leaves the door open for a fairy tale.

And that's exactly what has happened to Melanie Oudin.

I just realised I sounded like I was suggesting that the fact that the top girls are playing crap has sort of made her win by default, which is not what I mean at all, just to clarify. What she has done is analogous to what Casey Dellacqua did at the Aussie Open in 2008 - knocking off some top players by playing some completely great, out of the blue stuff. And that's what the WTA is allowing room for at the moment - someone to come out of the blue.

This is the second Slam in a row where Oudin has fought her way to the big W against top ten moments. Her Slam scalps now include Jankovic, Dementieva and Sharapova - and can I just say I am very sad to see MaSha go. I was kind of pulling for her to go deep - but how can you resist a fairy tale like Oudin? Hometown girl with a lot of fire... she's such a great story and I think she proves that if she can keep this up, the future of American tennis is in same hands.

One result of hers that hasn't been much talked about is her first round, where she totally demolished Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - I think it was 6-2 6-1 or something similar. Readers of this blog will know that I think very highly of Pavlyuchenkova. She's very young as well - eighteen, I think - and has about 237048948239 junior Slams under her belt. I think she's going to be very, very good in a few years.

And Oudin, who is her generation, effectively, totally destroyed her. The victories over the top seeds are sending a message to the current field, but I feel like the one over Pavlyuchenkova sent one to the future. Oudin is here, she's here to stay - and she's got her eyes on the top prize. And as no one else seems to want it that much... how about Mel?


Today's Results

US Open (Flushing Meadows)

Men's Draw

Roger Federer def. Lleyton Hewitt, 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-3
Novak Djokovic def. Jesse Witten, 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-4
Radek Stepanek def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-3
Nikolay Davydenko def. Marco Chiudinelli, 6-4 7-5 7-5
Robin Soderling def. Sam Querrey, 6-2 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-1


Women's Draw

Melanie Oudin def. Maria Sharapova, 3-6 6-4 7-5
Nadia Petrova def. Jie Zheng, 6-4 6-1
Gisela Dulko def. Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-3 6-4

Getting Stuck on 'Annihilate'

We're into the third round now, the round where, as we all know, the seeds begin to meet, and consequently, we're seeing bigger and bigger upsets. The huge one today was on the women's side - we said farewell to the #3 seed, Venus Williams. Second round in Australia, third round at Roland Garros - it has not been a happy year for Venus at the Slams. For her sake, one has to hope that Wimbledon turns out a little better.

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It isn't often that you see Venus - or Serena either, for that matter - get beaten so comprehensively. 6-0 6-4 was the score today, and though Venus staged a mini-comeback in that second set, from the instant they hit the first ball, you could tell that this game belonged to Agnes Szavay. I actually felt very vindicated about Szavay pulling this upset - I used to talk about her a lot maybe a year, eighteen months back as a big hope for the future, but then she sort of faded into the background. This was an excellent win for her here, and she deserved it thoroughly - sure, Venus didn't play well, but Agnes did, and that's all that counts. She played the big points with aplomb, and this is a very good sign for the future.

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One up-and-comer who will go no further in this tournament is my last remaining female Star, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She had an absolute beatdown put on her by her countrywoman and, by now, out and out favourite for this tournament, Dinara Safina. I was pulling for Dinara in this match, what with her being my special favourite in the women and all, but I felt sorry for Anastasia. She's got a lot more talent than 6-2 6-0 shows. Her time will come.

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And I would just like to note that Dinara has only given up four games in three matches. That is incredible. Outstanding, in fact. She's served up three bagels, two breadsticks and a... what does one call 6-2? A croissant, maybe? Anyway, the Dinara Safina bakery is open for business, and Aravane Rezai better watch out.

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Another #1 player who served up an absolute two-hoof beatdown today was Rafa Nadal, who pummelled poor Lleyton Hewitt. There's not much you can say about that match, except that Rafa will be Rafa... and sometimes he gets stuck on the 'annihilate' setting.

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But we did lose some big seeds in the men today - though not ones that were really surprising. Was anyone surprised that Gilles Simon went out? I wasn't. Victor Hanescu got him in straights. David Ferrer went out to Robin Soderling, but Ferrer has been pretty much non-existent this year, so I wasn't really surprised... and hey, this will set up an interesting match between Soderling and Nadal. No love lost there. Somehow, I would not be surprised if Rafa got stuck on 'annihilate' again.

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Nicolas Almagro also went out - no quarter final repeat performance for him. This will set up a veeeeeeery interesting round of sixteen match between Verdasco (who beat Almagro) and Davydenko (who beat Wawrinka). Man, that one could go for about twelve hours. I wouldn't like to pick a winner there, that's for sure!

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Today's Results

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French Open (Roland Garros)

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. Lleyton Hewitt,, 6-1 6-3 6-1

Fernando Gonzalez def. Josselin Ouanna, 7-5 6-3 7-5

Novak Djokovic def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-3 6-4 6-1

Andy Murray def. Janko Tipsarevic, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 retired

Victor Hanescu def. Gilles Simon, 6-4 6-4 6-2

Robin Soderling def. David Ferrer, 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-2 7-6 (7-5)

Fernando Verdasco def. Nicolas Almagro, 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (10-8)

Marin Cilic def. Radek Stepanek, 6-1 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

Nikolay Davydenko def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-3 4-6 6-3 6-2

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-4 2-6 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Aravane Rezai def. Michelle Larcher de Brito, 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

Maria Sharapova def. Yaroslava Shvedova, 1-6 6-3 6-4

Ana Ivanovic def. Iveta Benesova, 6-0 6-2

Agnes Szavay def. Venus Williams, 6-0 6-4

Dinara Safina def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-2 6-0

Dominika Cibulkova def. Gisela Dulko, 6-4 6-2

Na Li def. Olga Govortsova, 7-5 6-1

Bulldog

Well, well, play has begun in gay Paris, and already we are not without our share of upsets, almost-upsets and stories in general. I love Grand Slam tennis!

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The match which I was probably following more closely than the rest was Karlovic against Hewitt, which was a damn exciting match, even if it did involve Karlovic, arguably one of the most boring players on tour. I bet Dr Ivo is not going to be too happy about being taken out first round - though I suppose it's better to be taken out by Hewitt, who is still a name in the tennis world, than some total random.

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Karlovic did not necessarily play a bad match - he did very well in the breakers and until the fade set in in the fourth, could have won the match pretty much at any moment. But you have to give credit to Hewitt. Even though his tennis sure ain't what it used to be, he is so damn dogged. You can see shades of it in Nadal - that grit and determination never, ever to give up, to make each point a war. Hewitt totally sunk his teeth in after being two points from the brink of defeat - I think he can be pretty proud.

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Marat Safin also pulled off a reasonable win, though his opponent was no one to speak of - but I don't think we're going to be seeing too much more of Gilles Simon this tournament, somehow. Five sets in the first round against Wayne Odesnik? Shudder.

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Ernests Gulbis also had a nice win - please please please break your slump at Roland Garros, Ernests! - and Marin Cilic gave Jan Hernych an absolute clinic, so we're looking good from a Stars perspective... though potential Star Frederico Gil did go out to David Ferrer, but that wasn't wholly unexpected.

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Over to the ladies, and if Ana Ivanovic makes it to the quarters to meet Dinara Safina, I will eat an item of my own clothing. She played pathetically and if Errani had been able to push it just that little bit further, Ivanovic could have been going home. Someone who did actually go home was Amelie Mauresmo, which was terribly sad - once again, not her year in Paris. But the Stars kept shining - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had a nice win.

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Bring on Day 2!

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Today's Results

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French Open (Roland Garros)

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Men's Draw

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Marat Safin def. Alexandre Sidorenko, 6-4 6-4 6-4

Gilles Simon def. Wayne Odesnik, 3-6 7-5 6-2 4-6 6-3

Andy Murray def. Juan Ignacio Chela, 6-2 6-2 6-1

Lleyton Hewitt def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-7 (1-7) 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 6-3

Fernando Verdasco def. Florent Serra, 6-2 6-1 6-4

Radek Stepanek def. Gaston Gaudio, 6-3 6-4 6-1

Ernests Gulbis def. Sam Querrey, 7-6 (7-1) 6-1 3-6 6-1

Josselin Ouanna def. Marcel Granollers, 7-5 2-6 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1

David Ferrer def. Frederico Gil, 6-2 6-4 6-4

Nicolas Almagro def. Agustin Calleri, 6-4 6-1 6-3

Andrey Golubev def. Denis Gremelmayr, 6-3 6-3 6-2

Marin Cilic def. Jan Hernych, 6-0 6-4 6-3

Mathieu Montcourt def. Yen-hsun Lu, 6-2 retired

Robert Kendrick def. Daniel Brands, 6-7 (7-9) 7-5 7-6 (13-11) 4-6 6-1

Philipp Petzschner def. Peter Polansky, 5-7 6-2 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-3

Dudi Sela def. Jean-Rene Lisnard, 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Ana Ivanovic def. Sara Errani, 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

Anna-Lene Groenefeld def. Amelie Mauresmo, 6-4 6-3

Vitalia Diatchenko def. Mathilde Johansson, 2-6 6-2 10-8

Nadia Petrova def. Lauren Embree, 6-1 6-2

Victoria Azarenka def. Roberta Vinci, 6-4 6-2

Elena Vesnina def. Severine Bremond Beltrame, 6-3 6-3

Arantxa Rus def. Olivia Sanchez, 6-1 6-1

Timea Bacsinszky def. Emilie Loit, 4-6 6-4 6-1

Julie Coin def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 7-5 6-2

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Ioana Raluca Olaru, 6-3 6-2

Alla Kudryavsteva def. Varvara Lepchenko, 6-3 6-3

Kristina Barrois def. Maria-Emilia Salerni, 3-6 6-1 6-2

Yaroslava Shvedova def. Kaia Kanepi, 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-2

Iveta Benesova def. Julia Goerges, 7-5 4-1 retired

Li Na def. Marta Domachowska, 6-4 6-2

Gisela Dulko def. Tamira Paszek, 6-1 6-3

Jekyll and Hyde

It's not looking like a particularly happy week for my Stars, from what I can tell. Not only did Ernests Gulbis crash out early, to my great displeasure, both my girls are gone as well. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, last week's Cinderella, went out to bad-tempered teen queen Victoria Azarenka, and Sabine Lisicki went out today to Iveta Benesova. But that's why they're Stars of the Future, I guess... they aren't quite in the present yet. And Marin Cilic is still in the mix...

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It's mostly plain sailing again in both sides of the draw, though Andy Murray certainly had to work for his win over Juan Monaco. But there was one upset, and it was a nasty one - David Nalbandian got absolutely whaled on by Viktor Troicki.

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Troicki is not without ability. I've seen him play in the flesh - twice, actually, though one time (against Robredo at the year's Aussie Open) he really had his tail between his legs. He had set points against Rafa Nadal in the first round of the same tournament last year, though Rafa went on to win in straights. So he doesn't suck (I mean, as if any of the top hundred do! they're there for a reason). But he really shouldn't be a match for David Nalbandian, longtime nemesis of the great R-Fed: the big Argentine who has been to the semis of all four Slams and might be one of the most talented players on the tour never to have actually won one (largely courtesy of the Hispano-Suisse domination machine). But Troicki absolutely destroyed him - Headbandian only got four games.

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I've discussed the phenomenon of GoodDave and LameDave numerous times - he is perhaps the most Jekyll and Hyde of any player on tour. The stats tell the story - Dave only got 30% of his first serves in, and then only won 57% of the time on it. You'd want to hope that signals 'injury' not 'I am a total headcase and will never, ever recover from those five match points I had last week before I got bagelled'. I'm not a huge fan of Nalbandian personality-wise, but I think he's necessary on the tour - he fulfils a particular function, plays a particular role, the ever-dangerous veteran snake in the grass. The one who can beat anyone if he only has his day. And when he's losing to Viktor Troicki so tamely... it's not just David that suffers, but the whole dynamic of the tour. I think.

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Today's Results

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Sony Ericsson Open (Miami)

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Men's Draw

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Andy Murray def. Juan Monaco, 4-6 6-3 6-2

Fernando Verdasco def. Benjamin Becker, 6-3 6-4

David Ferrer def. John Isner, 6-3 3-6 6-2

Fernando Gonzalez def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-4 6-4

Viktor Troicki def. David Nalbandian, 6-1 6-3

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Andreas Seppi, 7-5 7-5

Radek Stepanek def. Bobby Reynolds, 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 6-2

Igor Andreev def. Yen-hsun Lu, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3

Frederico Gil def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-4 6-4

Nicolas Massu def. Mardy Fish, 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

Janko Tipsarevic def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-4 6-3

Feliciano Lopez def. Sam Querrey, 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-2

Bjorn Phau def. Albert Montanes, 6-4 2-0 retired

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Women's Draw

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Serena Williams def. Alexa Glatch, 6-2 6-3

Nadia Petrova def. Michaella Krajicek, 3-6 6-4 6-2

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Tamarine Tanasugarn, 4-6 6-3 6-2

Alizé Cornet def. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Zheng Jie def. Julia Goerges, 6-4 6-2

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4

Kaia Kanepi def. María José Martínez Sánchez, 4-6 6-4 7-5

Ekaterina Makarova def. Ai Sugiyama, 6-3 6-4

Iveta Benesova def. Sabine Lisicki, 6-2 6-4

Li Na def. Aleksandra Wozniak, 7-5 6-3

Anna-Lena Groenefeld def. Sara Errani, 6-4 6-3

Peng Shuai def. Mara Santangelo, 7-5 6-3

The Murray Monster

...what is it with Andy Murray?

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Specifically, what is it with Andy Murray and Roger Federer? If it's not a final, then you can pretty much bet the Fed's going down, especially in a best-of-three match. You've got to like Federer over five, but over three, considering the Fed/Muzza record stands the way it does, you've got to pick the Scottish boy.

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Once again, Murray has triumphed over Federer in a best-of-three semi-final. I have lost count of how many semis Murray has beaten Federer in. Always semis. And the thing is, Murray is good, yeah - but I don't understand why Federer can't seem to lift in these semis. He seems to be able to do it in finals, just not here (not even for the kid.) And I just don't understand why.

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Murray is an excellent player. Ain't denying that. But when it comes down to it, he's a glorified Lleyton Hewitt. And Roger Federer is the greatest player ever. So what's with it?

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I suppose that if you look at the Hewitt/Federer head to head, it's pretty clear to see that Hewitt dominated the early part of their career - I think Federer won something like one out of ten. And then the tables turned and Federer got the measure of the man. I keep waiting for something like this to happen with Murray - and even Rafa - but it just hasn't yet. Hmmm.

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Federer's capable of beating anyone. His tennis is the best tennis in the world, the best tennis ever. He just has to bring it, I guess. And if nothing else, I suppose this will give him a little more rest for Miami...

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And the Nadal/Murray final is going to be an interesting one for sure. After the final of Abu Dhabi, where they slugged out for a good few hours, it'll be very interesting to see who comes out on top. I wouldn't bet against Rafa... but Andy's proven he's capable of beating just about anyone. In a way, I'd like him to win, because he really deserves the #3 ranking more than Novak Djokovic right now.

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And looks like I might be right about Ana Ivanovic... she is in the final against Vera Zvonareva, whom she is certainly capable of beating. Wee Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova's run ended in the semis - but she'll be one to look at in the future!

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Today's Results

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BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells)

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. Andy Roddick, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Andy Murray def. Roger Federer, 6-3 4-6 6-1

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PS. I've actually written something vaguely tennis related on my other blog, The Black Valentine's Day Manifesto, if you'd like to read it - the address is http://blackvalentinemanifesto.wordpress.com

First Served

I'm going to get onto the match of yesterday, which was obviously Nadal and Nalbandian, in a minute, but I just want to gloat a bit first. Thank you, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, for making me look good and like an insightful tennis commentator instead of an uneducated rambler. She's just knocked off another big name - Agnieszka Radwanska - in the quarters and is now in the semis. How 'bout that kid, eh? Yes, Anastasia - that's all I have to say about that.

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Think of how clever I would look if she won...

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Though speaking of women's tennis... Dinara, Dinara, Dinara. She got pretty much eaten by Victoria Azarenka yesterday, and it was just not nice. Now the only big big name left in the tournament is Ana Ivanovic, and we all know her current level of reliability. That said, I have picked her to win the tournament... but who knows what'll happen with her, really? Personally, I'm pulling for young Anastasia, but it'd be good to see Ana defend her title.

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Now, Rafa and Dave. Wasn't this a good match? I didn't actually see it, but even just following it on livescores was a nailbiter. Rafa made a gargantuan effort to win the second set breaker and then roared away with a bagel in the third. Maybe that was when it clicked in his head the way to play Nalbandian? Or maybe LameDave just shows up. Who knows?

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One thing I did notice is that Nalbandian made significant inroads on the Nadal first serve, if one is to judge by the stats - that's where the difference lay. Nadal only won 63% of points on his first serve, but that's for the whole match: in the first set, the set that Nalbandian won, he was only winning 40% of points there. This obviously picked up over the course of the match, but still, intriguing...

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And Federer had a nice shiny victory over Gonzalez in three. Solid.

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Today's Results

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BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells)

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. David Nalbandian, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-0

Roger Federer def. Fernando Gonzalez, 6-3 5-7 6-2

Novak Djokovic def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (8-6)

Andy Murray def. Tommy Robredo, 6-2 3-0 retired

Juan Martin del Potro def. John Isner, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3)

Andy Roddick def. David Ferrer, 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3

Fernando Verdasco def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-4 3-6 6-1

Ivan Ljubicic def. Igor Andreev, 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-4)

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Women's Draw

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Ana Ivanovic def. Sybille Bammer, walkover

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-6 (10-8) 6-4

Yes, Anastasia

Okay, so we all know the WTA tour is in a bit of a shambles right now, yeah? The Williams sisters aside, the women at the top are flaky at best. The two Serbian girls have certainly not been showing their best - Ivanovic especially last year, and Jankovic especially this year. Dementieva started strong but seems to have cooled off. Dinara Safina had a great run at the Aussie Open but her serve has been all over the ballpark. So - short of Roger Federer and Mirka Vavrinec's baby turning out to be a girl who grows up and dominates the WTA tour like her daddy has dominated the ATP - who's going to step in?

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Well, there are a couple of girls I really like the look of. Dominika Cibulkova was one of my early flavours this year - but she succumbed to some classic WTA flakiness and bombed out early here in Indian Wells. I love what I've seen from Sabine Lisicki - she's only a teenager and I think she's going to be great when she grows up. But one that I've been watching for a while and who is absolutely owning at the moment in Indian Wells is the seventeen year old Russian, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

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You look at what she's done in junior Slams and it's hard not to like her. She could probably still be playing in juniors if she wanted, but she's been on the tour proper for a couple of years, where she hasn't done a whole lot yet... but I have a feeling about this young lady and Indian Wells. She started off by destroying Marta Domachowska, then beating Jelena Jankovic, now she's added a solid demolition of Karin Knapp in straights. She's got talent. She's got panache. She'll face either Alisa Kleybanova or Nuria Llagostera Vives in the next round, and one imagines she could beat either of them. She's only the second female inductee into my Stars of the Future fold. She's going to be awesome - and all the tennis commentators internationally are going to curse, as no one can pronounce her name.

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Speaking of people looking dangerous, the sight of Rafa at the other side of the net would make grown men quake. He is fearsome, and his demolition of Berrer yesterday... scary. And seriously, how hard can one man concentrate? I'm always vaguely worried that smoke will start coming out of his ears. He has some epic intensity going on.

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And on the subject of intense people, Marat Safin had quite a good win yesterday over Nicolas Massu. I make no comment on the subject of further rounds. Only it was a nice win, and I liked it.

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Today's Results

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BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells)

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Men's Draw

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Andy Murray def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-3 6-2

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Nicolas Lapentti, 6-2 3-6 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Agnieszka Radwanska def. Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-1 6-4

Flavia Pennetta def. Angela Haynes, 4-6 6-4 6-1

Agnes Szavay def. Kristina Barrois, 6-3 6-4

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Karin Knapp, 6-2 6-4

Chardy Over Mardy, Roger Rolls and Anastasia Attacks...

Not an especially good day for my Stars yesterday - Gulbis and Bellucci both went out, and now Cilic is the last man standing. Oh, and Jeremy Chardy! Almost forgot about him! He upset Mardy Fish today - he is looking very good. Maybe not so bad after all.

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And of course it wasn't so bad over all, because Federer won, and it's like the world has been set to rights. It is so nice to see him with a racquet in his hand again! The scoreline belies it - I think it looks tighter than it was - but he played absolutely beautifully. It's more evident in the stats, I think - only 59% of first serves in, sure, but he won 91% of the time... I think he only lost three points in the entire match on his first serve. And they were all in the first set as well. I was quite pleased.

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He comes up against Dr Ivo next round - is it just me, or do they play all the time? Anyway, Karlovic may have got him once last year, but I'm cheerfully optimistic. Roger Federer: doing it for the kid.

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And over on the women's side, you know who I'm picking to win? I'm extremely prepared to be wrong, but I really liked the look of Ana Ivanovic yesterday. I know she hasn't won a title in the last, like, ever, but the tournament here, to be fair, doesn't have that much depth because everyone is playing pretty badly right now. The one really solid player, Elena Dementieva, is already out of the tournament, and who knows what the rest of the WTA top ten can bring... Sveta Kuznetsova is out as well, and Jelena Jankovic got absolutely trounced yesterday by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. So can Ana do it? She was looking strongest of the lot yesterday... here's see what Dinara Safina can do, because one would imagine she would be the biggest competition.

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More on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - if she is not in the top ten in the next two years, I will be very surprised. I am officially inducting her into the Stars program (as only the second female inductee, after Sabine Lisicki.) She came up in that same crop as Alize Cornet (also knocked out) but hasn't managed to make too much of a splash yet, despite winning just about every junior Grand Slam for a couple of years. But I think her time is coming... and beating Jelena Jankovic is a great warning sign!

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Oh, and has anyone seen head or tail of Marcos Baghdatis? Don't tell me he's injured again...

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Today's Results

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BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells)

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Men's Draw

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David Ferrer def. Todd Widom, 6-4 7-5

Jeremy Chardy def. Mardy Fish, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-1)

Nicolas Kiefer def. Bobby Reynolds, 6-4 6-2

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Women's Draw

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Vera Zvonareva def. Petra Kvitova, 6-3 6-1

Caroline Wozniacki def. Kaia Kanepi, 6-3 3-6 6-3

Waiting for Fedot

Back at that Internet cafe on Flinders St. This is Jodi reporting to you on Day 2 on the Australian Open - another day when it was UNBELIEVABLY hot. Great tennis - not so good for the skin. But the things we must sacrifice.

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I wanted to see more matches, so I trawled around looking for good ones. I started off by watching the first set of Kei Nishikori and Jurgen Melzer on Court 6, which is a pretty decent sized court, but the stands were PACKED with Japanese fans supporting their man. He played pretty well while I was there - kid has got some serious shots! - but then he fell away a bit and Melzer ended up winning the match in straights, which sucked from a Star perspective.

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I went and trawled the practice courts after that, hunting for the elusive Fed, but he wasn't there, so I caught the second set of Anastastia Pavlyuchenkova and Tathiana Garbin on Court 19. I really like Pavlyuchenkova, and she won that set 6-2, but then she lost the match... so maybe I am cursed or something. It certainly wasn't a match of very high quality, from what I could see... both girls were missing a lot. A LOT. But obviously someone has to win.

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There were rumblings of a Fed practice at one, so I waited around... again, no materialisation. The TV crews said that it'd been rescheduled to four, and the crowds vanished like they'd been evaporated (which, in the heat, entirely possible.) I went and caught the last two sets of Richard Gasquet and Diego Junqueira on Show Court 3 - getting a seat in the shade, which is a rare achievement at Melbourne Park! That was a good match to watch - Gasquet is playing better than I've seen for a while. But then I got very lucky - it finished just in time for me to head over to Court 11 (a TINY back court) and grab a good seat for Ernests Gulbis against Albert Montanes. There was this adorable little Latvian family cheering for their boy - it was great! As well as a woman sitting beside me who was salivating over Gulbis, said he was 'the cutest on the ATP tour' and nearly had an aneurysm when I told her he was only twenty... but that is another story.

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Gulbis looked totally excellent, winning in easy straights. I only caught the first set, because I had to run off to this elusive Fed practice, which, once again, did not materialise. I headed offsite for a quick very early dinner, getting back at just on five, when who decided to start practicing when I was gone? Fed. Typical. Still, I only missed a couple of minutes and managed to worm my way to the fence - my shortness paid off! He spent ages and ages signing autographs, and he was wonderful with his fans. He is such a lovely man.

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That left me with an hour and a bit to kill before the night session started, so I went over and watched Dmitry Tursunov and Flavio Cipolla on Court 10. I caught the first set and a bit - Tursunov was clearly on top in the first, but he was down a double break in the second when I left, and I'm not sure what happened after that - I hope I'm not cursed again!
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I was in nearly the same position in Rod Laver Arena, and as that was a good spot, I was happy. The Stosur/Zakopalova match was a good match, but the crowd seemed a bit ho-hum about Sam, which I was surprised at, given the reception Casey Dellacqua got last night. Maybe Casey is a favourite or maybe it was just a quieter crowd. Who can tell? Anyway, I was glad it was straights, because I was anticipating another long men's match, but Rafa ANNIHILATED Christophe Rochus. The whole crowd got behind Rochus and cheered like crazy people when he won a game, but it no avail. That one was a whitewash, and I was back before midnight.

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Funny story to end on: there were these drunk old women behind me, and you know Rafa's wedgie-picking habit? So he was picking his wedgie, and one of them yells out 'PICK ME INSTEAD!' at the top of her lungs, and the whole stadium heard and cacked themselves at her. Ah, public humiliation...

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Today's Results

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Australian Open

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Men's Draw

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Rafael Nadal def. Christophe Rochus, 6-0 6-2 6-2

Fernando Gonzalez def. Lleyton Hewitt, 5-7 6-2 6-2 3-6 6-3

Andy Murray def. Andrei Pavel, 6-2 3-1 retired

Gilles Simon def. Pablo Andujar, 6-4 6-1 6-1

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Juan Monaco, 6-4 6-4 6-0

Chris Guccione def. Nicolas Devidler, 6-4 6-2 6-2

James Blake def. Frank Dancevic, 6-4 6-3 7-5

Tommy Haas def. Eduardo Schwank, 6-3 6-3 6-4

Gael Monfils def. Martin Vassallo Arguello, 6-1 6-3 7-5

Richard Gasdquet def. Diego Junqueira, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-4

Fernando Verdasco def. Adrian Mannarino, 6-0 6-2 6-2

Densi Istomin def. Vincent Spadea, 6-2 7-5 6-4

Stefan Koubek def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3 6-2 6-2

Jurgen Melzer def. Kei Nishikori, 7-5 6-2 6-1

Michael Berrer def. Carsten Ball, 6-2 6-4 6-3

Andreas Beck def. Colin Ebelthite, 7-5 6-1 6-0

Igor Andreev def. Peter Polansky, 5-7 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-4

Nicolas Almagro def. Nicolas Massy, 6-4 6-4 3-6 506 6-3

Flavio Cipolla def. Dmitry Tursunov, 4-6 6-2 7-6 (9-7) 7-5

Marcel Granollers def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-0

Sebastien de Chaunac def. Steve Darcis, 2-6 6-3 0-6 6-2 6-2

Ernests Gulbis def. Albert Montanes, 6-3 6-2 6-3

Ivo Karlovic def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-3 6-4 6-4

Ivan Ljubicic def. Igor Kunitsyn, 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (9-7) 5-7 6-3

Fabio Fognini def. Andrey Golubev, 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 6-2

Arnaud Clement def. Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6-3 2-6 4-6 6-2 6-1

Radek Stepanek def. Nicolas Lapentti, 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4

Dudi Sela def. Rainer Schuettler, 1-6 6-2 6-4 6-4

Roko Karanusic def. Florent Serra, 6-3 1-6 6-3 3-6 6-3

Mario Ancic def. Wayne Odesnik, 7-5 6-4 4-6 6-2

Guillermo Canas def. Dieter Kindlmann, 3-6 7-5 5-7 6-0 7-5

Victor Hanescu def. Jan Hernych, 3-6 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-4) 8-6

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Women's Draw

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Serena Williams def. Yuan Meng, 6-3 6-2

Elena Dementieva def. Kristina Barrois, 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-1

Venus Williams def. Angelique Kerber, 6-3 6-3

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Anastasia Rodionova, 6-2 3-6 6-3

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 7-6 (9-7) 4-6 6-1

Flavia Pennetta def. Mara Santangelo, 6-2 5-7 6-2

Victoria Azarenka def. Petra Kvitova, 6-2 6-1

Patty Schnyder def. Kristina Mladenovic, 2-6 6-4 6-2

Dominika Cibulkova def. Chanelle Scheepers, 6-0 6-0

Amélie Mauresmo def. Olga Govortsova, 6-4 6-3

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Isabella Holland, 6-1 7-5

Zheng Jie def. Camille Pin, 6-3 6-3

Peng Shuai def. Francesca Schiavone, 7-6 (7-4) 6-1

Sabine Lisicki def. Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-4 6-3

Alona Bondarenko def. Olivia Rogowska, 5-7 6-3 6-2

María José Martínez Sánchez def. Tamarine Tanasugarn, 7-5 6-3

Iveta Benesova def. Vera Dushevina, 6-4 0-6 6-2

Gisela Dulko def. Anastasiya Yakimova, 6-3 5-7 6-3

Carla Suárez Navarro def. Roberta Vinci, 7-5 6-4

Samantha Stosur def. Klara Zakopalova, 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-0)

Tathiana Garbin def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-4 2-6 7-5

Virginie Razzano def. Jarmila Gajdosova, 6-1 6-7 (2-7) 6-4

Chan Yung-Jan def. Hsieh Su-Wei, 6-3 6-3

Akgul Amanmuradova def. Melanie Oudin, 6-1 6-4

Melinda Czink def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-2 6-2

Lourdes Domínguez Lino def. Ekaterina Bychkova, 6-3 6-0

Julie Coin def. Elena Vesnina, 6-4 4-6 6-1

Severine Brémond def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-2 6-1

Tatjana Malek def. Ayumi Morita, 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

Elena Baltacha def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 6-1 6-4

Sesil Karatantcheva def. Nuria Llagostera Vives, 2-6 6-1 6-2

Jessica Moore def. Christina McHale, 1-6 6-3 9-7

The New Garden Square

It's great for Perth to get the Fed Cup tie for next year - the only other tennis event in WA is the Hopman Cup, which gets ignored a lot of the time - but I must admit I am a little disappointed... purely for selfish reasons. WA is much too far away to actually attend.

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I wish Fed Cup had a higher profile. With Stosur back from injury, we might have an okay team now - if she and Dellacqua played singles then Stubbs came in for the doubles, we might stand a good chance of getting back into the World Group. Speaking of Sam, she scored a great win in Tokyo against the second seed, Anabel Medina Garrigues. She made a run to the final last week, but maybe she can go all the way this time...? I'd like to see that.

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Another player to watch in Tokyo is Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. She is about six years old - well, maybe sixteen or seventeen, but very young - but she's making her presence felt. She's of the same generation as Alize Cornet, and although she hasn't made it up as high in the rankings yet, she's definitely going to be up there one day. Just another cog in the Russian tennis machine.

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Unfortunately, Kei Nishikori got unceremoniously booted out of the Tokyo tournament by Richard Gasquet. Maybe he took offence to me calling him a head case? It'd be great if he'd put those ways behind him, but excuse me if I am unconvinced. It takes more than one good win against an in form opponent to silence the doubters... ie. me. But I wouldn't mind it if Richou won a few matches and played himself back into form - although he, like Andy Roddick, should have gone to the Olympics.

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Nishikori's loss means that my only remaining active Star this week is the hanger-on, Eduardo Schwank, who beat Victor Hanescu in Metz. If he can do well this week, then he will officially be re-adopted back into the fold. I mean, I suppose he's already done well, getting this far, but one more round would not hurt anyone...

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Going back to Tokyo, it was a bit sad to see Jo-W Tsonga retire, but I suppose he's done his dues, winning that title last week... apparently he's only one of eight players to win his first title against a top ten opponent. Good on you, Jo-W.

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Actually, speaking of things that are sad, I have a bone to pick with Tennis Australia. They recently ran a competition to rename Garden Square Cafe, which is the player's cafe at Melbourne Park, where they have the Australian Open. Now, I'm sure they had all kinds of entries, and some must have been horrendous, but surely there was something better than the one they chose. The new name of Garden Square Cafe is... drumroll...

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...wait for it...

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'Player Cafe.'

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What genius came up with that one? And, moreover, what genius decided that was the best possible name? 'Player Cafe.' Real expression of creative genius, that one.

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Today's Results

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Open de Moselle (Metz)

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Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Romain Jouan, 6-3 6-3

Radek Stepanek def. Michael Llodra, 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 7-6 (7-0)

Eduardo Schwank def. Victor Hanescu, 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3

Adrian Mannarino def. Rik de Voest, 6-4 7-5

Marc Gicquel def. Nicolas Mahut, 6-3 7-6 (7-4)

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AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships (Tokyo)

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Men's Draw

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David Ferrer def. Takao Suzuki, 4-6 6-3 6-2

Andy Roddick def. Jurgen Melzer, 7-6 (7-2) 6-2

Fernando Gonzalez def. Amer Delic, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Richard Gasquet def. Kei Nishikori, 6-1 6-2

Juan Martin Del Potro def. Jarkko Nieminen, 6-1 6-3

Viktor Troicki def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 5-7 2-1 retired

Tomas Berdych def. Tommy Robredo, 7-6 (8-6) 6-2

Rainer Schuettler def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3 6-7 (12-14) 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Caroline Wozniacki def. Ayumi Morita, 6-2 6-1

Samantha Stosur def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-1 7-5

Aleksandra Wozniak def. Ryoko Fuda, 6-1 6-1

Klara Zakopalova def. Marta Domachowska, 6-3 6-0

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Rika Fujiwara, 6-2 6-4

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Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart)

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Jelena Jankovic def. Alona Bondarenko, 6-2 6-0

Dinara Safina def. Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-1 7-6 (8-6)

Venus Williams def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-4 6-2

Vera Zvonareva def. Marion Bartoli, 6-2 6-0

Nadia Petrova def. Patty Schnyder, 6-4 6-1

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Tashkent Open (Tashkent)

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Peng Shuai def. Arantxa Rus, 6-1 7-5

Sorana Cirstea def. Anna Lapushchenkova, 6-1 6-4

Monica Niculescu def. Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-3 3-4 retired

Michelle Larcher de Brito def. Tatiana Poutchek, 6-4 6-1